"John Grabowski" wrote in message
...
Originally, the K&T would have entered the fuse panel through screw in
ceramic insulators. When that panel was replaced they probably ran a
piece
of BX cable to a junction box, and ran the K&T insulators into knockouts
in
the J box, then either spliced with wire nuts or solder depending upon
when
it was done. Here is a picture of an old K&T fuse box. Notice the fused
neutrals:http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ause%20renovat...

Hmmm. So one of the left "feeders" is hot, and the other neutral, and
the right-hand wires are pairs of hots and neutral, all fused? That's
interesting. I'll assume that this is a property you worked on and
that this is what you found.

Just looking at the picture, I'd have guessed that two feeders were
two hot legs of a 240/120 supply, feeding three pairs of fuses, with
the fused wires going out on the right. The other side of the circuits
would likely run back to the service entrance, unfused, and go nowhere
near the box.

What really stands out for me, whichever it is, is that each of the
left-hand wires are each feeding (or being fed by) three fused legs
but aren't noticeably heavier gauge. If they're feeding three 20-A
circuits (orange fuses) they ought to be, by our standards, 8 ga or
heavier. Was this in fact the case?

Chip C
Toronto

The two wires on the left are feeding the panel. They're #10 conductors,
they're sleeved through loom, one is neutral and one is hot. The six
wires on the right are #14 conductors sleeved through loom as well. Each
circuit has a fuse on both hot and neutral. All of those fused neutrals
should have been corrected with solid brass fuse plugs at some later
date. The entire house was fed by a 30 amp 120 volt service. This is the
service panel. It and the main disconnect panel, which I'll link to are
located in the attic, which was also very typical.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...icedisconn.jpg



*Roy is that an asbestos lined wooden box?

It most certainly is. Both boxes are lined with 1/4" asbestos panels